


rare is this love

by TheOccasionalSquirrel



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Angst, Angst and Romance, Angst and Tragedy, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Established Keith/Lance (Voltron), Established Relationship, Gay Keith (Voltron), Heavy Angst, M/M, Married Couple, MerMay, POV First Person, Pirate Keith (Voltron), Siren Lance (Voltron), can i tag this as angst and romance? keith rlly loves lance lmao, cause i didn't want the idea to get out of hand, cough looks at the vampire series cough, i just wanted to try out writing in first person with this really short idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:08:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24377038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOccasionalSquirrel/pseuds/TheOccasionalSquirrel
Summary: But here is the truth laid bare in the sun, storms happen and lives are lost and Death doesn’t care whether sinner or saint is taken before the sun sets again.Here is the truth, red and sunburned staring you in the face:You didn’t die in that shipwreck, Lance.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Kudos: 42





	rare is this love

There was an undeniable nuance to privateer weddings that, along with dedication and love, made mates promise a certain devotion that simply wasn’t required on land. 

I’d never cared for it before I met you, but then again, you were the first thing in my miserable existence I’d ever cared for. You taught me to love and be loved, to cherish and to be cherished, and I’d promised you devotion of the kind they never needed on land. 

I’d never thought of this devotion before you taught me it. Before my heart jumped out of my chest when the enemy’s sword pierced your skin instead of my lungs. I’d never thought of sacrifice, not even as the enemy’s bullet pierced my thigh instead of your stomach, because I could never be a martyr as long as you existed.

I’d never thought of my heart as sentient before it decided to sing your song instead of beat for myself. And I didn’t want it to stop. I didn’t want your song to stop. I never wanted to wake to a day where hearing your voice was impossible.

I never wanted to wake to a day that didn’t have you in it. I never wanted to wake to a day without you beside me, for you always slept in, Lance, and I enjoyed looking at your angelic face before you woke up (though I’d never admit it, though I knew you knew it).

And there, beneath the starry sky and beneath the deck and beneath the blankets, you taught me myths and legends and poems, and your voice was a song I would never tire of. And there, seeing us beneath the stars beneath the wood beneath the wool, the ocean gods decided a love like ours could not stay alive amongst their waves.

You were the rising tide, Lance, inevitable and all encompassing, but then you were pulled back, pulled away. Further and further and further until you were gone from me. Leaving me like a fish out of water.

Grief turned me into a horrible poet.

But here is the truth laid bare in the sun, storms happen and lives are lost and Death doesn’t care whether sinner or saint is taken before the sun sets again.

Here is the truth, red and sunburned staring you in the face: 

You didn’t die in that shipwreck, Lance. 

Once upon a time, you’d whisper in my hair that a love like ours was rare. You’d confess you were scared of what would happen to you if I left. You’d tell me all of your hard work and becoming third in command, all of your talents and songs and plays, all of that would be void if I left. All of it undone, unmade, and you, as a husk of what you once were.

And I never told you that without you, I wouldn’t exist. I never told you that you would stay a man, you are stronger than you think, but I would turn into a ghost. Like blood without a body, a stain on the floor to be mopped away.

Once, I’d tell you I would never leave you. That my legs would sooner wither and die than take a step away from you. 

Once, you’d laugh, and say it’d be a shame since I have such wonderful legs. But there would be a light in your blue eyes, a love I was always meeting anew, and I hoped that in the dark, you could tell I loved you too.

I hope that even now, as the ship sways and the rain pours and your song is a twisted perversion of what it once was, but it is your song nonetheless. I hope you can see that I love you, Lance, and that I know you would never want this to yourself. I hope you can tell that these are the lengths I would go for you, I hope you don’t mind the blood on my hands as the sharp rocks dig into my palms.

I hope with as much fervor as I’d longed for you before, that you do not notice me scaling the back of the boulder you sit on. I hope with as much passion as I’d felt for you before, that your long scaly tail doesn’t meet my shoulder. I hope as I’d prayed before, as I’d prayed you didn’t find my love revolting, as I’d prayed our love would last, that you can forgive me, Lance.

Swords and knives meet little resistance besides the skin, the knife goes between your fourth and fifth rib, it pierces your heart, just like your love had once pierced mine.

Your eyes are still a magnificent blue, the kind of shade that belonged to neither sea nor sky. Your face is still the same, though I don’t think I’ve ever seen this peculiar shade of betrayal on it. Then again, I don’t think I’ve ever felt a hand piercing my lung and squeezing my heart, so I suppose it  _ is _ a day for learning new things.

I hope most of all that you find peace, Lance. I will never know how many lives you’ve taken in the years since you’ve become a siren, and perhaps it is for the best. I need my peace as well.

I wish I could have kissed you again, but that would have been more than we deserved. We were pirates, after all.

Maybe in our next life, we can be something nicer.

**Author's Note:**

> pls don't kill me ahaha


End file.
